This New App Could Be Your Congressman’s Worst Nightmare

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They might not admit it, but a new app designed to give constituents easier access to their elected officials might just give your congressional member nightmares.

Countable is a new social media app that gives voters a simple, concise and fast way to interact with their representatives.

An example of Countable’s simple format, intended to give voters a better way to dialogue with their elected officials after they’ve been voted into office. (Image source: Countable)

Countable “seeks to give citizens a greater voice in national politics,” Wired reported. “The company’s online service, which launches to the public today, gives you a simple and concise overview of the bills your national representatives are debating, and it lets you instantly send emails to these representatives, telling them how you would like them to vote.”

Joe Trippi — a social media political pioneer who started trends 10 years ago that forever changed the way politicians run for office and interact with voters via the Internet — is working with the Countable team to influence the way House and Senate members carry on the conversation with their constituents after they reach D.C.

“There’s been a lot of focus on winning campaigns, but there’s been less focus on governing,” said Trippi, a veteran of Howard Dean’s and John Edwards’ presidential campaigns, among others. “There are a lot of tools out there for campaigns to talk to voters, but not as many looking at how to give citizens and voters more impact on actual elected leaders in Congress.”

Countable was founded by a pair of web TV developers, Peter Arzhintar and Bart Myers.

“We were talking about what to do next, and we’re both passionate about politics,” Myers said. “We were interested in what happened with campaign finance reform and SOPA, but we were disappointed with the tools that were out there to drive advocacy and let the average voter to get involved.”

Both Azhintar and Myers feel congressional language can be complex, especially in the way it is currently made available to the public. They wanted to give voters insights into real-time legislative process in “plain English.”

“Fortunately, most pieces of legislation can be reasonably straight forward,” Myers said. “It’s when you get into complicated legislation with different political motivations associated with it that things get hard.”